Morgan Webb Puts Down Gamers
by Sindra, filed in Games, People, TV on Apr.04, 2008
I don’t watch the Tyra Banks Show, simply because it’s Tyra Banks and I have no interest in anything she says, as it tends to come out sounding like the adults in Peanuts cartoons to me. However I happened to watch a little clip from the show that had a segment on “Decoding Your Man”, where a poor hapless gamer geek is verbally castrated by his girlfriend and Tyra both. Then to add insult to injury, “Gaming Goddess” Morgan Webb is brought in as the expert opinion.
Here’s the clip:
Basically, Webb disses and degrades the very genre that gave her the popularity and stardom she [unfortunately for us] now enjoys. Rather than helping the girlfriend understand why her guy plays video games like he does and come to a mutual agreement, Webb re-enforces the girlfriend’s desire to all-out change her man altogether as she sees fit. Morgan spouts a whole lot of nonsense about gaming genres and tries sounding like some kind of psychologist on the subject, and fails miserably. I had little regard for Webb to begin with, since I see her as being a poser when it comes to trying to act like some kind of gaming expert. This just knocks any respect I had for her down to 0% as she proves she’s just another bimbo who thinks she knows her stuff, but instead is just flailing her ego around.
Guys, not all women are like this. Honestly. This is a poor representation of women understanding guys, and more importantly understanding gaming. This video is just an estrogen-filled globe of stereotyping on all gamers as being “obsessed” with their games. Obviously this is not true, as the majority are casual in their gaming exploits. If more women took the time to try and get inside their guys heads and understand their man, rather than control him and mold him into their own personal plaything, then there would be alot more happy gamers out there with happy girlfriends.
April 4th, 2008 on 11:12 pm
They really should have explained how much he plays games a little more. He could play 1 or 2 hours a day and it’s nothing. If he plays 6 to 8 hours a day, he has problems. I really couldn’t gage this guy at all, though from the sound of things he didn’t look to have a serious problem, except maybe that he could do with a girlfriend who respected his hobbies a bit more.
April 4th, 2008 on 11:22 pm
It amuses me that one of the captions claimed he had every gaming system ever made. I seriously doubt that.
Sometimes I wonder if they don’t just make up some of these problems on these shows. I know I’ve seen a couple of makeover shows where I think, whats wrong with them looking that way? Who cares if they aren’t a fashion model, or don’t wear the latest styles? Apparently shallow TV people care.
April 5th, 2008 on 2:04 am
Well, this *is* the woman that claimed beatmania was copying off of Guitar Hero’s successful rhythm-game formula, so… not too surprising. (SeanOrange could back me up on that too, I’m sure.
)
April 5th, 2008 on 12:41 pm
Morgan Webb has not figured me out yet. I like RTS and flash games. Stupid black circle.
April 5th, 2008 on 2:08 pm
This reminds me of a blog I wrote on my own site a while back: http://jacknifedakilla.wordpress.com/2006/10/17/why-video-games-are-better-than-women-for-shits-and-giggles/
I wrote it after a bitter rejection, that’s why it seems negative. Adam’s right. Seems to me that this dude’s only major problem is that he needs to find a women who will accept him for who he is and not try to change him.
April 5th, 2008 on 3:14 pm
After listening to Morgan, she is correct until she gets to the sports part. And she should not tell a women to change her man, thats just wrong.
April 5th, 2008 on 8:25 pm
Maaaaaaaaaaaaaaanjaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaw.
April 6th, 2008 on 7:48 am
I don’t feel like Morgan is that far off the mark really, and I didn’t really see where she put anyone down. She briefly explained a couple game types and then transplanted the hero as the guy. She did her best to justify the habit and motivations to a large audience who probably has no idea what she’s talking about.
And this is going to piss some people off here, but sometimes you do have to put down the controller and just be with someone. Even if you are only playing an hour a day. Yes, there are some gamer girls out there. SOME. Not everyone is willing to put up with your shit, you geeks. Thank god that you’ve been sent someone who is mildly interested in you and make some compromises, because I can guarantee ladies make some compromises when choosing to date a guy who’d rather spend his Saturday night playing Halo.
April 6th, 2008 on 4:12 pm
Yes, girls do, but that’s no reason to drop what you love doing for a pretty face. Even as a female, I know that’s just selfish if I expect a guy to stop doing something he’s been doing the majority of his life almost altogether, simply because I say he should.
That’d be like a guy telling me that playing and liking Castlevania as much as I do is un-ladylike, and I should tone it down or stop altogether because he’s asking me to, and he’s given me the time of day and therefore I should. If he doesn’t like it….he can go find some other girl, because that’s just asking me to change how I’ve done things for years now. Not gonna happen.
April 6th, 2008 on 10:02 pm
Zac is right in a way, but there are things certain women do that us as guys are expected to tolerate, yet we’re expected to change our ways for them? That’s selfish on their part.
April 6th, 2008 on 10:04 pm
Everyone in that scene was disgusting in a different way. The girlfriend was an evil life-sucker, the boyfriend was a spineless shit who’d apparently had the life sucked out of him, and Tyra was a stereotypical out-of-touch old person who hasn’t heard that games cater to adults now.
Morgan’s sin, I think, was oversimplification and pandering. Her description of three basic groups may be a usable way to group games, but not gamers. Most gamers I know seem to qualify strongly foray least two of her theoretical groups.
The really disgusting one was Tyra, engaging in clichéd, mean-spirited infantalization, and I was disappointed that Morgan played her role more like an analyst than an advocate, but I can’t really blame her. That probably was a tough room for her to play to. Then again, maybe that’s the real her. She’s proven time and again that she’s one of us, but maybe she wouldn’t be if it wasn’t her career?
April 7th, 2008 on 12:33 am
for the record, I just spent 6 hours playing Halo. My girlfriend went to bed a while ago, and I kinda feel like a jerk.
This show was about me.
April 7th, 2008 on 2:39 pm
Jacknife, finding a woman who won’t try to change a guy is the Holy Grail….it ain’t gonna happen.
Zac, wait until you get married…it becomes a way of life, because the only time you get to play for any length of time is once she’s asleep.
Phil – it’s Tyra. That should explain everything – if it’s not about her, she dismisses it out of hand.
April 7th, 2008 on 2:40 pm
From the description, I was expecting some kind of unfortunate display of pent-up rage from years of being objectified by unsavory, unwashed fanboys being unfairly directed at some hapless dude whose only fault was to date a chick who didn’t “get” him.
So, points for the hapless dude and girlfriend, anyway.
This “problem” is totally trumped up if the girlfriend’s been dating this guy for seven years and has been aware that his habits might be an issue for six of those years.
I don’t really see anything to be mad about — just a bunch of idiots in the idiot box doing idiot things.
April 7th, 2008 on 3:29 pm
He states to be playing less than he did when he lived alone, and she does not disagree. She got into the relationship knowing what was up, expecting to change him, and is now upset she can’t.
Guys accept what they get at face value. Women see a guy with a problem as a project, like buying a beat down car, putting some work into it, and having a really good car. It’s a bad philosophy, and the main reason most women get mistreated and abused by bad men they should never have gotten involved with in the first place.
April 7th, 2008 on 3:39 pm
Now who’s generalizing? Women can be like that, sure. Men can be like that too.
If they’re together after seven years, I think the only reason they went to Tyra with this “problem” is just so they could get on TV, maybe meet Morgan Webb. And even if that’s not the case, I can’t feel bad for either of them if she thinks she can change him (over something relatively trivial), or that he would put up with it.
Pass.
April 7th, 2008 on 3:43 pm
I’m a generalising kind of guy and won’t apologise for it.
Morgan isn’t really trying to tell him what to do, just explain why people might like games. I can’t get myself to get angry at her for it.
April 7th, 2008 on 3:51 pm
I think we’re supposed to be mad she was on the show at all. Or something.
April 7th, 2008 on 3:52 pm
I think I’m mad at her agent…
April 7th, 2008 on 4:25 pm
What I’m mad at the most is Morgan is coming off sounding like her opinion is exactly what is going on. All fantasy gamers need a person to rescue so they can feel good about themselves. All sports gamers need to act out their aggressions. That’s not always the case, but her smug attitude suggests that it is, and women who may have watched that program segment may think that way too.
Of course if the guy let himself be dragged onto public TV, then he kinda set himself up there.
April 7th, 2008 on 6:54 pm
Yeah, it does bugs me that she oversimplified what gamers are. I play mainly ’cause it’s a mental challenge (which explains why I loathe FPS’s), but considering this situation is occurring after SIX YEARS of a relationship, and this show seems pretty shallow, I wouldn’t put too much thought into it, as it’s catering to the people that think that men are projects. I would write Webb’s involvement in all of this as nothing more than incidental, a sign of how far G4 has screwed up the TechTV properties.
April 8th, 2008 on 3:54 am
It’s not even a matter of video games – it’s a matter of acceptance. Either partner in a relationship that cannot accept the habits of the other must learn to either compromise or live with it. A relationship of that nature simply will not tolerate any less. This man has been playing video games all his life – who is she to try to change that? Similarly, I don’t think that he has any right to change any major activity that she participates in. I think these two really need to assess whether or not they can live with one another’s activities, find some way to compromise, or consider seeing other people.
Yes, seven years is a long time, and a lot of work has undoubtedly gone into that relationship – however, we must also bear in mind that they are trying to solve this problem by appearing on a talk show. To the best of my knowledge, no problem has ever been mitigated in the slightest by discussing it on a daytime talk show and then broadcasting it on nationwide television. In fact, I’d be willing to bet that most of us have probably seen several examples of the opposite.
I agree with Phil Bond in regards to Morgan Webb: she greatly oversimplified the situation and presented herself as an analyst when she is not exactly qualified to do so. Her statements seemed little more than opinion and conjecture. And unfortunately, the problem multiplies here when given her audience. People, particularly women, who have seen this episode of this show will now take Morgan’s words as solid fact, and use them as weapons against their partners when they recognize, or conjure up, similar problems. Ideally, her statements should have been offset by an actual psychoanalyst, or at the very very least, the guy should have been given a real chance to defend himself.
However, I think most of us can agree that at this point, seven years in and now appearing on the Tyra Banks Show, this poor sap is in pretty deep already.
April 8th, 2008 on 2:26 pm
Wow, Tyra Banks is a fucking bitch. She asks him why he plays games? Well why the fuck do women shop for hours? Why do people watch movies? Why does anyone do anything that isn’t work? Because it’s fun you idiot. Why did anyone give that airhead a show?
Morgan Webb, while it seemed was trying to be the rational point of view really dropped the ball. First off, you can’t dissect all gamers, be they casual or hardcore, into three distinct groups. That’s ridiculous. Secondly, she acts as if all games are symbolism for something the gamer lacks in their real life. Certainly to small degrees some of it’s accurate, but her descriptions are incredibly myopic. I really doubt a lot of the mouth breathers who play Halo do it because they are longing to fight for some ideal or to combat injustice in the world. Watching that clip made me sick, not as a gamer, but as a person with two functioning brain hemispheres.
April 8th, 2008 on 3:39 pm
“Watching that clip made me sick, not as a gamer, but as a person with two functioning brain hemispheres.”
Hahahaha. Well said!
April 9th, 2008 on 1:18 pm
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July 17th, 2008 on 6:07 pm
That was a pretty mild verbal “castration.” The girlfriend seemed super fake anyway, like a hired actress. Or worse his real gf is a wannabe-actress.
August 28th, 2008 on 8:10 pm
This was a bit rediculous…I think if the guy wants to play video games a couple hours a day let the man play some video games as long as it doesn’t distract him from work or whatever he has going on in his life. I meen what the hell, without video games I’d probly be an emotional wreck. They are about the only thing that I can do and just forget about all the stress involved with college and what not. So all I have to say is fuck her, fuck Tyra, and fuck his dumb ass girlfriend. Let the motherfucker play his damn video games!
September 4th, 2008 on 6:16 pm
Morgan was tasked with the equivalent of taking an entire stand up comedy routine in Japanese and translating it to english. Some jokes would be hard to understand.
Or better yet translating a Chinese book of adages to english.